and manifested his will in his word that we might certainly know his will Wherefore God hath not only delivered legal promises which have annexed a condition of perfect obedience and are therefore made unprofitable to us but also Gospel promises which are free that we might rely on them with firm trust of heart Therefore it is of faith by grace saith the Apostle Rom. 4.16 that the promise might be sure Mens promises are uncertain and doubtful because all men are liars Psal 116.11 but the promises of God are sure and unmovable because God is truth it self As God is true in threatning so also in promising As out of Christ certain damnation abideth all unbelievers and impenitent persons so in Christ certain salvation is promised to all that turn to God and believe Cypr. serm 4. de mortal pag. 209. Dost thou doubt whether those things shall be that God hath promised who is true whose saying is eternal and firm to them that believe If a grave and laudable man should promise something thou wouldst believe him nor wouldst thou think thou shouldst be deceived by him whom thou knewest to stand to his word and be firm in his actings Now God speaketh with thee and dost thou unbelievingly fluctuate with a distrustful mind Observe moreover the firmness of Gods oath As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner Ezech. 33.11 but that he should turn and live Verily verily I say unto you Joh. 5.25 saith Christ hethat heareth my saying and believeth in him that sent me hath eternal life and shall not come into condemnation but hath passed from death to life Joh. 8.51 Verily verily I say unto you if a man keep my saying he shall never see death Aug. in Psalm 88. God hath said this he hath promised this if that be not enough he hath sworn it Therefore happy we for whose sake God swears Tertul. l. de poenit but most wretched we if we believe not God when he swears Acknowledge therefore the admirable and never enough praised mercy of God who willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability and immovableness of his counsel Heb. 6.17 vers 18. confirmed it by an oath That by two immutable things seeing it is impossible for God to lye we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us Want of due preparation Tempted All these things easily perswade me not to doubt of the firmness of Gods promises in themselves in the mean it is as yet uncertain whether they be so firm and immovable to me and whether I be in the number of them to whom God promises and offers so great things Comforter Yes because God pomiseth these things to all that truly repent and fly to Christ by faith 2 Cor. 4.13 therefore he hath also promised to thee seeing thou also believest in Christ Attend therefore further to the inward sealing of the holy Spirit For the Spirit witnesseth not only outward ly in the word but also inwardly in thy heart Rom. 8.16 The Spirit himself beareth witness with thy spirit that thou art the child 1 Cor. 2.12 yea and heir of God Thou hast received the Spirit which is of God that thou maist know the things that are freely given thee of God He that confirms and strengthens thee with all the truly Godly in Christ and he who hath anointed thee is God who hath sealed thee and given thee the earnest of the Spirit in thy heart Gal. 4.6 Because thou art the son of God therefore hath God sent forth the spirit of his son into thy heart crying Abba Father Believing the word of truth and the Gospel of salvation thou art sealed with the holy Spirit of promise Eph. 1.13 which is the earnest of thine inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession chap. 4.30 whereby thou art sealed unto the day of redemption As the Bridegroom who hath promised his spouse marriage giveth her some token for a pledge of their future marriage so God hath betrothed thee to him in faith he hath betrothed thee in mercy Hos 2.19 Rev. 19.7 but the marriage of the Lamb is not yet celebrated therefore he giveth thee the earnest of his Spirit to assure thee of the fulfilling of the promises and a future introducing of thee to the heavenly nuptials This is the spirit of adoption because he witnesseth thou art adopted to be a son of God this is that seal whereby the promises of God are sealed in thy heart this is the earnest by which the word of truth is confirmed to thee 1 Joh. 4.13 By this thou knowest that thou dwellest in God and God in thee because he hath given thee of his Spirit Doubting of the indwelling of the Spirit Tempted But whence can I be sure that my heart is the temple and dwelling of the holy Ghost The blots of sin stick to me and I perceive that in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing how then will the holy Spirit who is holiness and purity it self dwell in me Comforter We receive only the first-fruits of the Spirit in this life Rom. 8.23 we expect the full measure and compleat tenths at length in eternal life there remains in this life a striving of the flesh and spirit Rom. 7.14 we are yet in part carnal and sold under sin yet never the less by means of regeneration and renovation begun we are the temples of the holy Ghost Moreover that the Spirit of God dwelleth in thee thou maist know by this that thou lamentest and abhorrest thy sins Wisd 1.4 because the holy Spirit dwelleth not in a body enslaved to sins because thou believest in Christ and lovest him for he is the Spirit of faith 2 Cor. 4.13 Zach. 13.9 because with serious groanings thou callest upon God and the most bountiful Father for he is the spirit of grace and of prayers and cryeth in the hearts of the faithful Gal. 4.6 Abba Father because thou art led with a desire of all good for they that are the temples of the holy Spirit are led by him Rom. 8.14 namely unto good because thou oft perceivest a foretast of eternal life in thy heart and the kingdom of God is not meat and drink Rom. 14.17 but righteousness peace and joy in the holy Ghost Wherefore if thy soul hath felt at any time in the secret of its conscience the Spirit of the son crying Bern. in Cant. serm 8. col 509. Abba Father let it presume it is loved with a fatherly affection seeing it feels it self moved with the same Spirit wherewith the Son is In the Spirit of the son it knows it self the daughter of the Father and the Bride and sister of the son But though all these are sometimes weak and languid yet be not cast down but beg increase
death by the help of thine heavenly Father thou maist raise upthy self so as to say with Job Job 13.15 Although the Lord kill me yet will I trust in him Ps 91.15 16. I am with him in trouble saith the Lord I will deliver him and honour him With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my salvation Rom. 3.39 Neither life nor death nor any creature can separate or pull us from this love of God seeing it is in Christ Jesus who is our eternal King and Saviour for ever The accusation of the Law the deformity of sin and the temptation of eternal casting off maketh the shew of death terrible seeing the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law 1 Cor. 15.55 but call to mind the consolation that was before opposed to these monsters and that outward shew of death that is terrible to look upon will vanish and will be changed into a most pleasant sleep The sting of death Tempted By sin death entred into the world and is the due wages of sin how then should I not dread death Comforter Truly in and of it self death is the wages of sin and the revenging scourge of an angry God but to those that believe in Christ it is changed into a most sweet sleep For although those that are born again and believe in Christ as yet carry about remainders of sin in their flesh Rom. 8.10 whence also their body is dead that is obnoxious to death because of sin dwelling therein yet the Spirit is life because of righteousness that is because by true faith in Christ they are justified from sins and by the Spirit resist the lusts of the flesh therefore that sin as yet remaining in the flesh is not imputed to them but is covered with the shield of divine grace Greg. Nyss in orat de morte Therefore by death the true and spiritual life of the soul doth not end in them but rather begins whereto death is made to be as it were the midwife Thence flow those sweet appellations whereby the holy Spirit who is the Spirit of truth doth describe the death of the godly For those who in the eyes of fools seem and are said by them to dye those the holy Spirit says are gathered or congregated unto their people Gen. 25.8.35.29.49.33 that is into the company of the blessed and triumphant Church in heaven where they come to those that died before or rather went before That which we call death is a travelling Tertul. lib. de patient p. 12. Cypr. de mortal p. 214. Chrysost hom 45. in Gen. col 375. Hilar. in Psal 140. it is not an exit but a transit not so much an emigration as a transmigration from worse to better an ablation of the soul and a certain most happy translocation not an abolition for the soul is requir'd again and translated into a place of rest not killed It is a transcension and ascension to true life Ambr. de bon mort c. 10. 2 Pet. 1.15 Joh. 5.24 It is an Exodus because by it the godly pass from the bondage of sin to true liberty even as the Israelites heretofore out of Egyptian bondage into the land of promise The godly are said by death to enter into peace Isai 57.2 and to rest in their beds namely because they come from that daily warfare upon earth to a place of peace from the troublous sea of this life unto the haven from the toilsom prison of this world to a place of rest They are said to be dissolved and to come to Christ Phil. 1.23 because they are brought out of the Inn as it were of this present life to an heavenly country and from a crew of wicked men to the blessed company of Christ in heaven by death they are loosed from their bodily bands for as oxen having laboured all the day are let out of their yoaks at length towards evening and as prisoners are loosed from their chains so the godly are by death freed of the sad yoke of the labours and pains of this life and from the dark dungeon of sin and by a sweet change are translated to a better life They are said to pass out of the land of their pilgâ—image by the dissolution of their earthly tabernacle Heb. 11.5 2 Cor. 5.8 and to be present with the Lord namely because they come from the ruinous cottage of the world to an heavenly palace from an house of clay to a city not made with hands eternal in the heavens from the tabernacle of an earthly body to the heavenly Jerusalem and the blessed company of Christ inhabiting it Cypr. serm de mortal pag. 208. It is his part to fear death that is unwilling to go to Christ It is his part to be unwilling to go to Christ that believes not to begin to reign with Christ They are said to rest from their labours Rev. 14. Ambr. de Bono mortis c. 2. for not the godly man but his misery dieth If this life be full of burden surely its end is ease now ease is good and death is the end therefore death is good 1 Cor. 15.38 They are said to be sown in the ground or the field of the Lord by death and buryal in that the bodies of the godly like precious granes of wheat shall spring up hereafter again to life That crop which from deceased Stigelius bodies springs Immortal glory to the body brings As under clods the wither'd granes do lie Which you would think were clearly cast away Yet in a while sprung up you may espy And unperceiv'd grow taller every day Even so our bodies that entombed were First raised then in glory shall excell What death had swallow'd up shall trophees bear And in eternal light with God shall dwell The bones of the godly shall flourish and wax green Isai 66.14 2 Sam. 7.12 Isai 26.20 Dan. 12.2 Mat. 9.24 when the spring of everlasting life shall come Lastly they are said to fall asleep For as in sleep we rest from our labour regain our wasted strength our soul in the mean time performing her operations so by death being brought from all the labours and dolours of this life to rest we gather new strength of mind and body the more readily and perfectly to perform those works for which we were created in the beginning and redeemed by Christ the soul in the mean while living and rejoicing in heaven As in our sleep we mind not what is done about us nor are troubled with the crowds of humane businesses so those that die in the Lord rest without all care and anxiety and are no longer subject to the evils of this life As again we are awaked out of sleep so death will not be a perpetual sleep but the time will come in which we shall hear the voice of Christ calling us out of the grave we shall again go forth
Jesus standing o' th right hand of God And then think earth too mean a place for thee Whom he redeem'd with his most precious blood Sweet Jesus Thouwast pleas'd to buy me come I 'm not the worlds but thine then fetch me home If in this life only we have hope we are of all men most miserable 1 Cor. 15.29 THE world presents thee Ophir gold but stay Lose not thy Interest in God for Clay The world presents short pleasures to thine Eye Thy God presents blest Immortality Be circumspect the world 's a crafty Cheat And sells its Vanities at too dear a Rate Thy Soul 's more worth than all the world enjoys Exchange it not for Fooleries and Toys Which to thy fancy may seem precious things Yet are but Adders Poyson Serpents stings Wounding the dying soul that cannot die Nor live less than to all Eternity Consider him who said My soul take pleasure Go eat and drink thou hast abundant Treasure Laid up for many years That very night This wretched soul was stript of all delight And hurried hence amidst its chiefest joy By furious Ghosts Triumphing in their prey There are but few that solid wisdom prize And search Eternity with sacred Eyes Of saving faith Imploring not to miss Grace here below in Heaven Eternal Bliss Let thy Redeemer in thy heart be fixt So shall no sorrow with True joy be mixt Nor tempting vice thee from his precepts draw Omit no time fulfill his Royal Law With son-like fear and thou shalt have no less I' th end than everlasting Happiness The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.23 There is therefore now no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8.1 SAid I not Lord that I would sin no more Yet sin again hath got me on the score Pray I not without ceasing to be free From sinful thoughts yet sin abides in me When I awake sin seeks to gain my heart Contending for precedence by desert Of Birth-right from the womb and would controul My holy thoughts and close besiege my soul That matchless gift of thine what shall I do Comply with sin and be its Captive too Who arms the Creatures with enticing smiles And with deceitful arguments beguiles Unstable Souls no I will shun its charms Thy strength my God to shield me from its harms I do implore else I am lost undone O let me find redemption in thy son The son of thy dear love who 's freely bent To bath my soul and make it innocent With his pure crimson streams whose mighty power Trampled on Death and Hell that dreadful hour The Graves restraint he vanquished at length By his victorious and triumphant strength The Temple Veil he rent in open view And gave himself to Gentile and to Jew A sacrifice for sin He is that Lamb Foretold and Typified in Isaac's Ram. The builders Scorn yet the chief Corner-stone Ezekiels Shepherd Daniels Holy One My Rock my only confidence my stay Forsake me not but guide me in thy way I am the Jonah I did cause the Rout To beg a Murtherer and cast thee out I stript thee of thy cloaths and of thy skin And my transgressions tortur'd thee within My sins thy sharpest sufferings contriv'd My sinfulness thee of thy life depriv'd Drew down thy fathers wrath which none could bear But only thee my Lord my Life my Fear Uphold me yet a little to endure Sins Buffetings the victory is sure Faith tells me so and patience bids me wait And I shall gain a conquest to the height Of my expected hope I shall but die And then shall go to immortality To live with perfect souls in perfect bliss Discharg'd of such a Nothingness as this Then wait my soul with patience for thy rest Prepar'd from everlasting to invest Thy nakedness with purest white array Free from the Moth and power of times decay While with incessant pleasures thou art fed A Crown of glory shall begirt thy head Perpetual Halelujahs shalt thou sing Unto thy God thy Saviour and thy King The souls Longing COme Lord my head doth burn my heart is sick While thou dost ever ever stay Thy long deferrings wound me to the quick My Spirit gaspeth night and day O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee II. How canst thou stay considering the pace Thy blood did make which thou didst wast When I behold it trickling down thy face I never saw thing make such hast O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee III. When man was lost thy pity lookt about To see what help i' th earth or sky But there was none at least no help without The help did in thy bosom lye O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee IV. There lay thy Son and must he leave that Nest That hive of sweetness to remove Thraldom from those who would not at a feast Leave one poor Apple for thy Love O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee V. He did he came O my redeemer dear After all this canst thou be strange So many years baptiz'd and not appear As if thy love could fail or change O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee VI. Yet if thou stayest still why must I stay My God what is this world to me This world of woe hence all ye clouds away Away I must go up and see O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee VII What is this weary world this meat and drink That chains us by the teeth so fast What is this Woman kind which I can wink Into a blackness and distast O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee VIII With one small sigh thou gav'st me t' other day I blasted all the joys about me And frowning on them as they pin'd away Now come again said I and flout me O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee IX Nothing but drouth and dearth but bush and brake Which way so'ere I look I see Some may dream merrily but when they wake They dress themselves and come to thee O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee X. We talk of Harvests there are no such things But when we leave our Corn and hay There is no fruitful year but that which brings The last and lov'd though dreadful day O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee XI Oh loose this frame this knot of man unty That my free soul may use her wing Which now is pinion'd with mortality As an intangled hampred thing O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee XII What have I left that I should stay and groan The most of me to Heaven is fled My thoughts and joys are all packt up and gone And for their old acquaintance plead O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee XIII Come Dearest Lord pass not this Holy season My flesh and bones and joynts do pray And even my verse when by the rhime and reason The word is Stay sayes ever Come Oh shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee Vpon Death WHy should we not as well desire our Death As sleep No difference but a little breath 'T is all but rest 't is all but a releasing Our tyred limbs why then not alike pleasing Being burthened with the sorrows of the day We wish for night which being come we lay Our body down yet when our very breath Is Irksome to us we are afraid of death Our sleep is oft accompanied with frights Distracting dreams and dangers of the nights When in the sheets of Death our Body's sure From all such evils and we sleep secure What matter Doun or earth what boots it whether Alas our body 's sensible of neither Things that are sensless feel not pains nor ease Tell me and why not worms as well as fleas In sleep we know not whether our clos'd eyes Shall ever wake From Death w' are sure to rise I but 't is long first Oh is that our fears Dare we trust God for nights and not for years Conclusion THe God of love my Shepherd is And he that doth me feed While he is mine and I am his What can I want or need II. He leads me to the tender grass Where I both feed and rest Then to the streams that gently pass In both I have the best III. Or if I stray he doth convert And bring my mind in frame And all this not for my desert But for his holy Name IV. Yea in deaths shady black aboad Well may I walk not fear For thou art with me and thy Rod To guide thy Staff to bear V. Nay thou dost make me fit and dine Even in my enemies sight My head with Oyl my Cup with wine Runs over day and night IV. Surely thy sweet and wondrous love Shall measure all my days And as if never shall remove So neither shall my praise FINIS
that Christ thy Lord obtaineth it on a double account both by being the heir of the Father and by the merit of his passion he is content with the first the latter he bestoweth on thee from whose gift challenge it for thy self and thou shalt not be confounded The temptation of despair Tempted The Devil solicits me to despair Comforter I would have thee despair namely of thy self and in thy self because thou art a sinner but despair not in God whose grace aboundeth over thy sin Rom. 5.21 Chrysost hom 3. de poenit For no more is the malice of man to the clemency of God than a spark of fire is to the sea The sea although it be great yet it admits of measure but the mercy of God is unmeasurable Neither despair of Christ and in Christ 1 Tim. 1.15 who came into the world to save sinners whose blood avails more to reconcile God than the sins of all the world to offend him Although thy sins be great and diverse and often repeated yet they are not greater nor more grievous than thou maist obtain pardon and forgiveness for in that the goodness of God is greater than the iniquity of all men Sins as it were set with the sun but the grace of God riseth with it Sins are the works of the Devil and of man To have pity to spare and to forgive are the works of God By how much therefore God is more powerful than the Devil and man by so much is his mercy above our malice The Lord is merciful and gracious Ps 103.8 slow to anger and plenteous in mercy v. 9. He doth not always chide neither doth he keep his anger for ever v. 10. He dealeth not with us after our sins nor rewardeth us according to our iniquities v. 11. For as the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him v. 12. As far as the East is from the West so far removeth he our transgressions Heaven is incomparably greater than the earth which is but like a very little point in comparison with heaven but so is the mercy of the heavenly Father incomparably greater than all sins Bern. Serm. 11. in Cant. col 518. Be far then from saying Mine iniquity is greater than the pity of a merciful God Thou shalt find God more bountiful than thou art faulty Gerson de remed contra pusillan So great is God's mercy that if thou hadst all the sins of the world upon thee and wert sorry that thou hadst proudly offended so good a God by thy sins and didst firmly purpose for the future to refrain therefrom God would never condemn thee Dost thou so forget the satisfaction made by Christ that thou wilt prefer thy sins before the merit of Christ that is thy self before God Thou seest the greatness of the disease Aug. in Psal 55. and seest thou not the power of the physician Thy sins are great Christ is far greater that satisfied for thy sins Thy sins are diverse but Christ also suffered diverse things for thee God is an infinite good whom thou hast offended by thy sins but Christ is an infinite person who hath reconciled thee to God Sigh therefore unto the heavenly Father and pray in the name of the Son thy Saviour If thou O eternal God Ansh de redempt gen hum fol. 96. despisest me for mine iniquity as I deserve however for the dearness of thy beloved Son look upon me with pity Observe in thy Son what thou maist atone in thy servant Behold the Sacrament of his flesh and remit the guilt of my flesh remember what â—â—y good Son has suffered and forget what thy bad servant hath done The Temptation of Blasphemy Tempted I must needs confess I am not only solicited to despair but am also sometimes tempted with the spirit of Blasphemy for there arise such thoughts in my heart as are injurious against God himself my Creator and my Saviour I would choose to die a thousand times to be freed from this temptation Comforter These thoughts are not the actions of thine heart but rather its bitter passions seeing thou art not delighted with them but thy grief from them is more bitter than death it self They are the scourges of Satan whereby he afflicts and torments thee they will not be reckoned for sin unto thee by the Lord. And though thou have the greatest impatience of spirit from the infirmity of thy flesh yet the Lord knows thy groans and thy sighs The weight of temptations did force hard words even from Job and Jeremy which yet the most bountiful God did fatherly forgive them Thou seest by them how altogether no strength unto good thou hast from thy self that thou maist cleave unto God alone with full trust of heart This is the top and highest degree of thy fight against Satan see that thou despond not here the greatest champion will be with thee and will not leave thee destitute of his help Wait patiently and humbly till thou art freed of these fiery darts of Satan Eph. 6.16 in the mean time let the grace of God be sufficient for thee 2 Cor. 12.9 It is the flesh which so striveth against the spirit and is so ready and obedient to receive the darts of Satan the sin that dwells in thy flesh shall not be imputed unto thee if through the spirit thou mortifie the deeds of the flesh and consent not to those blasphemous thoughts Those fiery darts of Satan shall be quenched in the blood of Christ turn towards him the shield of faith and as soon as thou perceivest any blasphemous thought to arise betake thy self to prayer and so thou maist kill it as it were in the bud The particularness of the premises Tempted I perceive some comfort of the Spirit in my heart I observe some trust in my mind that keeps me from despair when I behold the mercy of God abounding over my sins and the merit of Christ which is of infinite price and value But I doubt whether the Evangelical promises of the mercy of God and merit of Christ belong to me For God is not only merciful but he is also a most just and severe punisher of sins and alas experience sheweth that all are not partakers of the benefits of Christ Comforter But look thou give not way to those seducing thoughts of the particularness of the Evangelical promises God calleth all to him desireth all will come unto him he offereth the word of the Gospel and in it the benefits of Christ unto all and that not feignedly but sincerely not hypocritically but with a mind to bestow Ezek. 18.31 32. ch 33.11 As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner but that he should turn and live Here thou hast the solemn oath of Divine truth thou seest their conversion is expected and desired by God that by their own fault die in their sins
in a boasting manner will make ostentation of his righteousnesses to God any more than a woman of a menstruous cloth to a man Neither our works nor our sufferings are worthy of the glory that shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 We cannot by our obedience merit a crumb of bread to feed upon but we are glad to beg it of God by daily prayers how incomparably less can we obtain the wages of eternal life by our merits Aug. in Psal 31. Therefore if thou wilt fall from grace boast of thy merits Idem de verb. Apost serm 15. God giveth altogether freely he saveth freely because he finds nothing for which he should save but much for which he should damn Fulgent 1. ad Monim p. 21. From grace is given not only a good life to the justified but also an eternal life to the glorified therefore death is called wages but eternal life is called grace because that is paid but this is bestowed Bern. serm in nat Mar. col 213. Let whoso will therefore seek after merit do thou study to find grace let thy merit be the mercy of God thou art not altogether without merit as long as he wants not compassion Serm. 61. in Cant. Serm. 67. in Cant. There is no room for grace where merit hath already taken place grace wanteth so much as thou ascribest to merit Serm. 68. in Cant. It sufficeth to merit to know that merit sufficeth not Place all thy trust in God only embrace his mercy 〈◊〉 the wounds of Christ seek thy merits and thou shalt not be unwâ—â—thy of merits The accusation of the Law Tempted I confess our works are not meritorious nor appease God but we must please him by faith But how can they chuse but displease him when they are not perfectly conformable to his Law The Law is an eternal and immoveable rule of righteousness condemning all that is not conformable to it self Therefore it brandisheth at me and my works the weapon of damnation unless you show me what shield I may defend my self withall Comforter Christ hath redeemed thee from the curse of the Law being made a curse for thee because it is written Gal. 3.13 Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree When the fulness of time was come Chap. 4.4 God sent his son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the law vers 5. that we might receive the adoption of sons Rom. 16. Christ is he end and fulfilling of the Law for righteousness to every one that belie … There is therefore no condemnion to be feared from the law 〈◊〉 thee and all such as are Christs Chap. 8.1 by faith and walk not after the flesh vers 2. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made thee free from the law of sin and of death vers 3. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God hath done sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin hath condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us vers 4. that walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Wherefore if by true faith thou appliest the benefits of Christ to thy self thou needest not fear the curse of the law 1 Cor. 15.55 56. The sting of death is sin the strength of sin is the law But thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ He hath overcome our death by his death he hath satisfied for our sins by his sufferings and hath most perfectly fulfilled the law for us by his most holy obedience And yet there is no abolishing of the law but only a transferring Nor do the Law and Gospel destroy one another Gal. 3.21 seeing the Law is not against the promises of the Gospel Rom. 3.31 but is established by faith For what the law requires of us that the Gospel declares to be performed by Christ in our stead What the Law commandeth that Christ obtaineth The Law condemns sin and us for sin Christ yieldeth satisfaction for sin and bestows his righteousness on us The Law therefore is satisfied by Christ's obedience because it is perfect on the other hand the fulfilling of the Law performed by Christ redounds to us Chytr lib. 1. de vita morte p. 43. because not due Therefore as thou oughtest not to behold sin in thy body but in Christ raised again the conquerour of death and the giver of life and eternal salvation sin not in thy conscience but in Christ the lamb of God that beareth and taketh away thy sins and the sins of all the world as thou oughtest to behold hell and temptations of eternal rejection not in thy self and the innumerable multitude of the damned but in Christ bearing on the cross and overcoming for us the temptation of casting off so thou oughtest to behold the Law not as it is writ in thy heart but as it was fulfilled by Christ and fastned to the cross with him The accusing of Conscience Tempted My conscience beareth witness to the accusation of the Law it as an uncorrupted judge riseth against me and while none accuseth me or bringeth ought against me is my accuser Chrys hom 64. in Gen. Nazianz. orat 26. I cannot shun that home tribunal in this great volume I see and am agast at all my sins writ with the pen of truth Bern. de convers ad Cler. c. 3. col 414. Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this court of judgment wherein the criminal the accuser witness judge racker whip and executioner are the same Comforter If thy heart condemneth thee Joh. 3.20 yet God is greater than thy heart If the remembrance of thy by-past sins accuse and torment thee yet Christ the Redeemer who hath satisfied for sins is more powerful he acquitteth freeth and saveth thee Col. 2.14 For he hath blotted out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us he hath taken it out of the way fastning it to his cross That accusing hand-writing of thy conscience is fastn'd also therewith by the nails of Christ crucified so that it is void and of no force before God Rom. 5.1 For being justified by faith thou hast peace with God peace of conscience quiet of heart and that blessed tranquillity of soul which Christ the conquerour of death sin and Satan brought with him from the grave Bern. de conv c. 6. col 415. and bestowed on his disciples Wherefore if thou feel the worm of conscience in this present life thou oughtest presently to stifle it not to nourish it to immortality for conscience putrified breeds never dying worms Stifle therefore the worm of conscience by unfeigned repentance beg of God quiet of heart and pardon of sin and take heed of wounding thy
thee that Christ thy treasure liveth Let the frame of heaven and earth perish flee pass away thou hast the most faithful promises of a new heaven and a new earth Isai 65.17 2 Pet. 3.12 Behold I create new heavens and a new earth saith the Lord in which shall dwell righteousness so that none any longer remembreth the former Rev. 21.1 Let the tabernacle of thy pilgrimage fall the mansion of the heavenly countrey abideth ever Nor is there any reason thou shouldst fear the accusation either of Satan or the Law or thy sins thy sins are thrown into the depth of the Sea namely into the abyss of Gods mercy God hath thrown them behind his back Mic. 7.19 Isai 38.17 Ezech. 18.24 so that he will remember them no more hereafter Satan believe me shall not fetch thy sins up out of the sea nor shall dare to bring them into the sight of the Judge Thy sins are * Psal 32.1 Psal 51.1 forgiven covered blotted out they shall not be brought again into judgement The Devil will in vain accuse the godly because the blotting out the hand-writing by the blood of Christ shall be turned to him Col. 2.14 His accusation for sin shall be to no purpose because the forgiveness made through Christ shall be alledged against him Vain shall be the accusation of the Law because in this life there preceded reconciliation with God through faith Lastly thou hast no reason to fear Christ's sudden coming again to judgment for though the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night 1 Thes 5.2 yet God hath not appointed us to wrath 9. but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ Who died for us 10. that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him The judgment day is not to be feared by them for whom the heavenly kingdom was prepared from the beginning Mat. 25.34 Eph. 1.4 who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world Commit therefore into the faithful hands of God the precious pledge of thy soul he will keep it in death and in judgement and he will introduce it being joyned to the body into the palace of heaven to everlasting glory A Prayer in Sickness HEar me O God thou giver and restorer of life in whose hands life and death health and sickness are Hear me not according to the desire of my will but according to the good pleasure of thine own will If thou wilt thou canst heal me say but one word and I shall be whole Thou art the length of my dayes in thy hands my lots are but if now thou call me to the heavenly country by the way of death first mortifie in me all inordinate love of this life give me strength of spirit that I may overcome the pangs of death and in the midst of the darkness of my dimm eyes kindle and encrease in me light of heart with thee is the well of true life and in thy light shall I see light Thy death O good Jesus is the remedy of my death and the merit of eternal life I embrace thy word with a faithful heart therefore I am sure that thou dwellest in my heart by faith I will not let thee go out of my heart until thou bless me and chear me with thy enlivening consolation Thou hast said He that believeth in me shall never die my heart presents this thy word before thee and with this faith I come to the throne of grace thou wilt not cast out nor reject him that cometh unto thee Let thy precious blood wash me from my sins let thy wounds hide me from the anger of God and the rigour of judgment I will die in thee thou shalt live in me I will abide in thee thou shalt abide in me thou wilt not leave me in death and dust but wilt raise me to the resurrection of life Thou hast fought and overcome for me fight now and overcome in me let thy strength be perfected in my weakness My soul cleaveth to thee I will not suffer my self to be plucked from thee Let thy peace that passeth all understanding keep my heart and senses into thy hands I commend my spirit thou hast redeemed me thou God of truth Take my poor soul which thou hast created redeemed wash it from sins in thy blood sealed with the earnest of thy holy Spirit and fed with thy body and blood thine it is thou gavest it me take what is thine and remit the guilt of my sins wherewith I have stained it Let not the fruit of thy passion perish in me nor let thy precious blood be unfruitful in me O Lord in thee have I trusted let me never be confounded Amen FINIS THE Christians TRIUMPH Over DEATH With some Divine Contemplations Soliloquies and Poems thereupon LONDON Printed by Margaret White for Nath. Crouch 1679. THE Christians TRIUMPH Over DEATH CONTEMPLATIONS On 1 Cor. 15.55 Oh Death where is thy sting UPright Adam was made Immortal but sinful Adam begot all his sons mortal even as he had made himself Adam therefore is dead and all the sons of Adam do but live to die the sentence of death past upon us all in him we are born to see this sentence executed upon our selves and as Adam himself dyed the same day he sinned that is brought himself into a necessity of dying though as to the time of his death he was reprieved for nine hundred and thirty years after that day So we in Adam came under the same necessity though it be some thousands of years after before the sentence be executed upon us As a Malefactor is a dead man in Law at that instant when the sentence is pronounced against him though his execution be respited for some few days after So according to Gods law and decree we are all dead in Adams doom though it please God to prolong these days of ours wherein we must live to die according to his irrevocable doom A Malefactor is not executed sometimes one two three four five or six days after judgment past so likewise we were all adjudged to die before we were born but God with whom a thousand years is but as one day hath appointed the first second third fourth fifth or sixth thousand year of the world to be the day of our execution There is more necessity of our dying than of our being born It is not so necessary that he who is not should be as that he that now lives should once die the former may be supposed but the latter is fully expressed It is appointed for all men once to dye Heb. 9.27 There is alwayes a greater necessity of the end than the means death is the end of life not only in the execution of it but in the intention Morti nati sumus we are born to dye and we dye from the time we are born The day of our birth what is it but the beginning of the day
infirmity I am lighter than water that runneth away apace I beseech thee therefore O my God who sittest upon the floods of water and art a King for ever to send the heavenly dew of thy grace upon me who am part of thine inheritance to refresh my wearied soul Let every herb that I behold cause me to contemplate my own estate that I shall one day be cut off like the green herb and shall wither away like the grass let the Sun that shines over my head lift up my heart to the Son of righteousness to that light which lightens the Gentiles and the Glory of the people Israel Let the Moon that rules by night make me call upon thee the father of light to illuminate me while I sit in darkness and in the shadow of death in whom is no variableness nor change as there is in the Moon finally let the beasts the birds the fishes yea the very flies and insects which seem to be the very scorn of nature let them all by the shortness of their lives remind me of the brevity of my own and since it is thy blessed will O dear Saviour let me be contented and rejoyce therein for ever III. O Lord the life of my life and the God of the spirits of all flesh make me willing to dye since it is thy ordinance and appointment for all things serve thee let me not forget thee nor behave my self frowardly in thy Covenant make me willing to die and to say with old Sin can Lord now let thy servant depart in peace and with St. Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ and because my spirit is willing and my flesh weak raise it and quicken it with thy free spirit by bringing to my remembrance thy promises and comforts to me on every side and since it is thy holy pleasure I should die and not live I am satisfied therewith for thy law is within my heart therefore make no long tarrying O Lord my God IV. How long O God shall I live to sin against thee for as long as I live in this earthly Tabernacle I can do nothing but sin to will is present with me but I find no strength nor ability to perform for I find a Law in my members rebelling against the law of my mind making me captive to the law of sin and death so that the good which I would do I do not but the evil which I would not do that do I. Deliver me therefore dear Lord from this body of death that I may enter the gates of life and go to the Angels and Saints and be one of them and continue with them to all Eternity my soul thirsteth for God even for the living God make hast therefore O Christ and deliver me V. Let my Conversation in this world O Lord be such that I may neither be ashamed to live nor afraid to die I know that to the natural man death is very fearful and terrible but let me be thine by thy grace strengthen me in my greatest weakness be present with me with thy consolations even to the last moment and compass me about with songs of deliverance and then though I walk through the vally of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy left hand is under my head and thy right hand doth embrace me why should I be afraid in the evil day or why should my soul be disquieted within me for death will then be to me advantage let me therefore sigh and groan in being desirous to be delivered from this burden of the flesh and to be thereby made partaker of immortality and of those unutterable joys and pleasures which thou O my blessed God and Saviour dost enjoy for ever let my faith O Lord scatter all my fears and let my soul long for thy salvation deliver my soul out of Prison and take me to thy everlasting mercy put an end to my sins by the end of this life that I may live with thee without end VI. Set a watch O Lord before the doors of my heart and so order my thoughts that I may always set thee before me and in the midst of life let me so remember death that when my days in this world are at an end I may return unto thee my rest let not the flight and departure of this my Spirit from my body be on the Sabbath day that is in the rest and tranquillity of my sins nor in the winter or frost of my hard heart nor in the midnight of my security when I least look for it let not this dangerous thief of carelesness and security break into my soul nor hinder me from a serious and continual meditation of death and of the heavenly habitations If I forget Jerusalem in my mirth let my right-hand forget her cunning those thoughts that are imployed about my death are my best teachers teach me therefore to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness Morning evening and at mid-day let me wait for the coming of my blessed Saviour who shall turn my night into day my darkness into light my heaviness into joy my labours into rest when death shall be swallowed up into victory where the serpent shall sting no more and where the second death shall never hurt me VII Guide thou O Lord my God the ship of my soul through the sea of this world by the direction of thy holy word wherein thou hast caused me to put my trust let me sayl so safely that by the winds and waves of temptations I may never be driven either upon the Rocks of Presumption or Despair but that I may happily arrive at the haven of the promised land of thy heavenly Kingdom While I behold thee O Lord in thy justice I am afraid and am ready to despair and while I look upon thee in thine infinite mercies I am subject to presume Let thy hand therefore so support me that I may be defended by thy fatherly goodness as with a shield that I may not be cut off by the course of thy severe justice as with a sword I must confess that in justice I have incurred thy wrath and deserve condemnation but through thy manifold mercies O Lord I long and look for thy salvation I am the workmanship of thy hands destroy not therefore that which thou hast made but bless it and bring it to a perfect end thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of truth and therefore I promise to my self that I cannot be lost if I sincerely put my trust in thee for then thou hast promised me salvation in thy word and thou hast bound this thy promise with an Oath and sealed it with the blood of thy Son and that before the best witnesses in heaven or earth thy holy spirit bearing witness with my spirit that I am a child of God Now upon such considerations as these I fix and ground my faith and am perswaded that after
another place which is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience or a covenant towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ Be baptized Acts 22.16 and wash away thy sins saith Ananias Gal. 3.27 As many of ye as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ and by faith ye are all the children of God For Christ sanctifieth his Church Eph. 5.27 cleansing it with the laver of water in the word From all which thou maist strongly conclude that Baptism is a ransom for captives Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tom 1. p. 446. Cyrill Hieros in praefat Catech. a remission of debts a death of sin a being born again a bright garment of the soul an inviolable seal a chariot to heaven the Inn of the kingdom the gift of adoption * Naziaâ—z orat in S. Bapt. p. 615. It is the brightness of souls the change of life the answer of the conscience towards God an help of our weakness It is a putting away of the flesh a following of the Spirit a communion of the word It is an amendment of the creature a deluge to sin a partaking of light a dissolution of darkness It is a chariot unto God anaccompanying of Christ the prop of faith the perfection of the mind the glory of the kingdom of heaven a change of life a taking away of servitude a loosing of bands a changing of apparel Tertul. 4. adver Marc. p. 231. Aug. 2. cont Crescon c. 18. Paulin. epist 12. ad Sever. It is the spring of true life and true righteousness an abridged laver the Sacrament of life and eternal salvation The holy Ghost into this pool descends Whose waters by an heavenly spring are fed Which influenc'd by th' Deity forth sends An holy offspring from eternal seed For in the Baptism of Christ it was demonstrated by visible signs what the divine grace worketh invisibly in our Baptism Chemnit in cap. 17. Harm The water of Baptism was sanctified by the touch of our Lords body for whatsoever Christ promerited and obtained in the body of his flesh he deposited as it were in his Baptism He received Baptism with us sinners to testifie that we by Baptism are made his members As the eternal Father in the Baptism of Christ said This is my beloved son so at this day he adopts for sons all that believe and are baptized As in the Baptism of Christ heaven was opened so to this day by the sacrament of Baptism the gate of the heavenly paradise is opened to us As the holy Ghost in Christ's Baptism descended upon him in the form of a dove so in our Baptism the holy Ghost is present and therein doth effectually work our regeneration and renovation so that thus in Baptism concurr the grace of the Father adopting the merit of the Son cleansing and the efficacy of the holy Spirit regenerating If therefore thou art baptized thou canst not doubt of the grace of God the remission of sins and the promise of eternal life Baptism is the laver of regeneration where there is regeneration there is remission of sins there is the grace of God there is perfect righteousness there is renewing there is the gift of the holy Ghost there is adoption and there is the inheritance of eternal life Falling from the Covenant of Baptism Tempted I believe indeed that I was received into the covenant of grace by the sacrament of Baptism that I thereby obtained remission of sins and was writ in the book of life but I have faln from the grace of this covenant again by my sins by repeating my transgressions I have made void the aforegoing remission and have often deserved to be blotted out of the book of life Comforter No but the covenant of God is an everlasting covenant to which thou maist always return by true and hearty repentance For as God declares concerning the sacrament of Circumcision Gen. 17.13 that it is an everlasting covenant so let us not doubt but that in Baptism which succeeded in the place of Circumcision Col. 2.11 God enters into and establisheth an everlasting covenant with us I will betroth thee to me for ever saith he by the Prophet Hos 2.19 yea I will betroth thee in righteousness and in judgement and in loving kindness and in mercies I will betroth thee to me in faithfulness Isai 54.10 The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Rom. 3.3 God forbid we should say the faith of God is made without effect by our unbelief If we give never so little belief to his words or depart from him 1 Tim. 2.13 yet he abideth faithful always the same true and constant he cannot deny himself Therefore by the sins of thy natural infirmity thou fallest not from the free covenant of God By sins committed against thy conscience thou fallest indeed from the grace of God and the covenant of grace but thou maist return to the everlasting covenant of God by true repentance The ship of Baptism splits not though we leap out of it into the sea of sins therefore by repentance which in this sence may be called secunda post naufragium tabula Hier. in c. 3. Isa v. 9. we may return again to the same ship of Baptism that we may in it be wasted to the port of eternal salvation Tertul. lib. de poenit p. 479. Therefore embrace repentance as a shipwrackt person catches hold of a plank this will lift thee up when ready to be drowned in the waves of thy sins and will carry thee into the haven of Gods mercy Peter had denied his Master but being converted he notwithstanding seeks the promise of salvation in Baptism 1 Pet. 3.21 The Galatians and the Corinthians had faln foully yet when they were renewed again by repentance the Apostle offers them comfort drawn from Baptism declaring that as many of them as had been baptized Gal. 3.27 had put on Christ and clearly affirming that they were washed 1 Cor. 6.11 12 13. and by one spirit were baptized into one body namely mystical whence it clearly appears that the efficacy of the Baptismal covenant is extended to the future and is not quite enervated and abolished by mans fall but on God's part remains continually a firm and established covenant When Paul therefore says Aug. 1. de nup. concup c. 33. that Christ cleanseth the Church in the laver of water in the word it is thus to be understood that in the same laver of regeneration and word of sanctification all the sins of regenerate men are cleansed healed not only those by-past all which are remitted in Baptism but also those which are contracted afterwards by humane ignorance and frailty Not that Baptism should be
he fall for therefore those that will not persevere are mixed with those that shall by the wise will of God that we may learn not to soar too high but to joyn with the lowly and work out our salvation with fear and trembling Therefore with one eye of the heart behold the mercy of God but with the other the justice of God from a faithful view of God's mercy let there arise in thy heart a trust of perseverance from the fear of God's justice let there arise in it a shunning of carnal security Let divine love penetrate thy flesh lest the love of sinful flesh deceive thee Psa 147.11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him and hope in his mercy Let our inner man hope and trust the outward fear and tremble Doubting of being written in the book of life Tempted Those only persevere and receive the crown of perseverance that are writ in the book of life But how can I know that I am writ in the book of life Comforter That book of life is Christ whence 't is called the book of life of the Lamb. Rev. 13.8.21.27 The writing into this book of life is nothing else than the election of believers in Christ to life eternal For as the faithful are said to be chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world Eph. 1.5 Rev. 17.8 so their names are said to be writ in the book of life from the foundation of the world Therefore we must pass judgment as of election so also of writing into the book of life not à priori but à posteriori Bern. serm 1. Septuag There are clear signs and tokens of salvation given that it may not be questioned but that he is of the number of the elect in whom those signs remain For they that from eternity were elected unto life those in time hear the word of salvation believe in Christ put forth the fruits of the Spirit and persevere in faith 1 Joh. 5.10 He therefore that believeth on the son hath the witness of God in himself Rom. 8.16 for the holy Spirit in the heart of believers beareth witness that they are the children of God and writ in the book of life Those whom God hath predestinated from eternity and whose names he hath written in heaven Luk. 10.20 Rom. 8.30 he calls in time by his word and justifies by true faith in Christ That faith shows it self by hearty calling upon God by patience under the cross by endeavour after holiness Therefore let the holy and wholsome thought of election and the book of life begin at the wounds of Christ hanging on the cross He that believes in him Rom. 10.9 and perseveres in faith is justified and writ in the book of the living Wast thou not received into the covenant of grace by Baptism washt from thy sins in the blood of Christ regenerated and renewed by the holy Ghost this is an evident sign that thou art writ in the book of life Gal. 3.26 27. For we are all the children of God by faith seeing as many as have been baptized into Christ Savanar in Psal 31. have put on Christ Wherefore falling into sin through the infirmity of the flesh after Baptism art thou not contrite who put his hand under thee who received thee into favour again who but the Lord This is a great sign of thine election An elect person when he falleth shall not be broken God did not write the Tables of the Destinies or the Decrees of Rhadamanthus but the book of life when he elected us in Christ before the foundation of the world In Christ therefore by faith seek thy election to life and thy writing into the book of life walk by faith that thou maist arrive at predestination Ex Aug ust Lomb. 1. sent dist 41. D. They that rashly and without the bounds of the word search the depths of God they are at length swallowed in the deep The fear of Deatd Tempted It is good for me to cleave to Christ I will notlet him go out of my heart until he bless me I have resolved to persevere in a true faith in Christ that I may come to reign with him Yet I confess still I am not yet free from all fear of death nor do I feel that strength and assistance of the Spirit as with the Apostle earnestly to desire to be dissolved Comforter Such is the infirmity of our flesh and disposition of corrupt Nature as that we are more desirous of this flitting life than of that to come which is permanent hence is that fear and terror of death which that thou maist overcome by vertue of the Spirit and maist grow in the strength of the inner man consider those things which I shall propound to thee out of the store-house of heavenly truth First it is certain that even the hairs of our head are all numbred by God Mat. 10.30 Job 14.5 Psal 139. the number of our months is appointed by him he hath set us bounds which we cannot pass All our dayes were written in his book before there was one of them Therefore good reason thou shouldst acquiesce in this fatherly will of God he gave thee life of his grace he wonderfully brought thee forth of the recesses of thy mothers womb how long hath he continued thy life he hath preserved thee from a thousand dangers that soul which he once gave he now asks again he takes not away what is thine but requires back what is his And what Action can lye against him that calls for his loan Moreover the soul that he requires of thee he translates into the joyes of an heavenly paradise and hereafter he will restore it adorned with greater glory and nobler endowments to the body again That body which is lodged in the grave shall hereafter be a more glorious worthy precious mansion for thy soul It is sown in corruption 1 Cor. 15.42 it is raised in incorruption It is sown in dishonour it shall arise in glory 43 It is sown in weakness it shall be raised in power It is sown a natural body 44. it shall arise a spiritual body Thy soul therefore created of God delivered by the son inhabited by the holy Spirit do thou humbly and readily commend as a pledge into the faithful hands of God saying with David and Stephen Psal 31.6 Acts 7.59 Luk. 23.46 yea with Christ thy head Into thy hands I commend my spirit thou hast redeemed me O God of truth Nay canst thou not in the very agony of death most certainly promise thy self the presence and help of God For seeing thou embracest Christ the Mediator by a true faith being certainly perswaded that by his death he hath overcome thine and by his resurrection hath restored righteousness and immortal life unto thee therefore being justified by this faith thou hast peace with God Rom. 5.1 and in the midst of
life appears a precious nut outwardly but if it be opened with the knife of truth nothing will be found within but vanity and emptiness If there be good in this life that is eminently yea incomparably better in the other Aug. tract ult in Joh. That is in faith this in view That in time of Pilgrimage this in an eternity of mansion that in labour this in rest that in the way this in the country That in the work of action this in the wages of contemplation That declines from evil doth good this hath no evil from which to decline and hath a great good to enjoy That fights with theenemy this reigns without enemy That is stout in adversity this feeleth nothing of adversity That bridleth fleshly lusts this is spent in heavenly delights That is solicitous with a care of overcoming this is secure with the peace of victory That is helped in temptations this is rejoyced in the helper himself without any temptation That succoureth the needy this is there where it finds none needy This pardons other mens trespasses that its trespasses may be pardoned this suffers nothing which it may forgive nor does it any thing which it should desire to be forgiven it That is scourged with adversity that it may not be exalted in prosperity this wants all evil with such a fulness of grace that without any temption it cleaves unto the chiefest good That discerns good and evil things this sees only those things that are good Chuse that life therefore which is to be preferred Lay aside the inordinate desire of a flitting life that thou lose not the inheritance of a permanent one So possess the things of this world as that thou be not possess'd by them let what thou hast be under the dominion of thy mind lest whilst thy mind is overcome with the love of earthly things it self be more possessed of its injoyments Cypr. serm de mortal Why hastenest thou not to better things Heavenly things succeed earthly great things little and eternal things transitory Separation from wife children kindred Tempted I must leave my sweet children I must leave my loyal wife I must leave my pleasant kindred who shall provide for my wife and children who shall be their righter and patron Comforter God it is that calleth himself a father of the fatherless and a judge of widows Pal. 68.6 commit them to his protection and defence It is God that is thy God and who will be the God of thy seed also Gen. 17.7 Thy children are not thine only but God's also yea rather God's than thine seeing he hath bestowed more upon them canst thou doubt then of God's Fatherly care of them The Prophet of the Lord saith he had been young and now was old Psal 37.25 yet had he not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread The generation of the upright shall be blessed Ps 112.2 God hath promised thy children heavenly treasures he will not suffer them believe me to perish with hunger He hath given them life he will not deny the sustenance of life he hath given a body that which he hath wonderfully formed he will also bountifully sustain But take heed thou be not so solicitous about the bodily welfare of thy wife and children as in the mean time to neglect the care of thy soul Luk. 14.26 If any man come to me saith Christ and hateth not his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters yea and his own life he cannot be my disciple which he explains in another place Mat. 10.37 Whosoever loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me Behold God calleth thee by death see thou love not thy wife and children so as therefore to refuse with a ready heart to follow God calling of thee Ambr. in cap. 12. Lucae p. 111. The love of the heavenly Father is to be preferred before the love of children the love of Christ the bridegroom before that of thy wife the benefit ought not to be loved above the benefactor What should I speak of kindred if thou lose them that are dear unto thee Bern serm 26. in Cant. col 569. Aug. Epist 6. ad vid. hereafter thou shalt receive them more dear For we hope on a most true promise that from this life from whence being about to pass we have not lost those of our friends that have already passed but sent them before we shall come to that life in which by how much they will be the better known to us so much the dearer and more amiable without fear of any dissension will they be If thy kindred are dear to thee let Christ be more dear to thee who is thy brother If it be pleasant to thee here to converse with thy kindred let it be more pleasant Heb. 12.22 23. that thou goest to mount Sion and the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels To the Church of the first-born which are written in heaven to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect Stopping of the ears in death Tempted I am afraid lest my ears waxing deaf in the agony of death I be deprived of all comfort of heart and too much dismayed with the terrors of Satan Comforter The inward consolation of the holy Spirit is more effectual than all outward consolations Rom. 8.16 The holy Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God the same Spirit raiseth our spirits when we begin to struggle with death Joh. 15.26 and be straitned in heart for he is the true and highest Comforter When thy eyes grow dim in death the holy Spirit will give the illumination of heart when thy ears wax deaf in death he will bestow on thee quickning comfort of soul Where humane consolation will end there will divine begin Behold the examples of the Martyrs how ready and prepared they were for the most exquisite torments Wheels did seem unto them Roses flames of fire spiritual bracelets iron chains golden crowns torments ornaments two-edged swords beams of heavenly light who wrought this in their hearts who comforted them in their griefs but the holy Spirit His consolation is more effectual than the accusation of the whole world yea or of the Prince of the world Thinkest thou that the holy Spirit does only chear our hearts in the course of this world and is idle in the agony of death thinkest thou the dwelling of the holy Spirit is destroyed when the tabernacle of thy body is destroyed Gal. 2.20 Eph. 3.2 Psal 45.9 Christ liveth in thee and dwelleth in thy heart by faith grace is poured into his lips the fragrancy of this grace will chear thy heart if thy hearing be lost never so much his speech will reach thy heart be
our life and being and he delights not in our destruction death was never intended against us but against our sin we were therefore made mortal that our sins might not be immortal we must dye once that sin may not always live Oh death what dost thou Thou dissolvest the rarest composition of heaven and earth thou dividest our spirits from our clay thou dost separate soul and body sharper art thou than any two-edged sword and entrest to the dividing asunder the soul and spirit yea thou dividest between the marrow and the bone Thou makest our dust return to the earth and our Spirit to God that gave it Oh death Thou makest our spirit to vanish our breath to stop our blood to cool our colour to change our beauty to fade and our strength to fail thou as Solomon saith Eccles 12.2 makest the keepers of the house our hands to tremble and the strong men our feet to bow themselves thou makest the grinders our Teeth to cease and them that look out at the windows our eyes to wax dim thou shuttest the dores of our lips and stoppest our windpipes the Daughters of Musick Thou cuttest short the silver Cord of our Marrow and breakest the golden bowl of our brain pan thou breakest the pitcher of our veins at the fountain of our liver at the cistorn of our heart there breakest thou the wheel of our head Oh death Thou art ordained for us all It is appointed for all men once to die we must all walk in this way all-tread this same path we must all sleep the same sleep our last sleep and the dark night of death will at last overtake us all our fathers are dead saith the Father our friends are dead and we our selves must die also Some are gone before us some do accompany us and some will come after us as wave after wave dashes against the Rock so shall we all one after another dash against this hard and cold Rock of death And thus sooner or later we all must die at last We are born with that condition that we must die we do therefore put on the Garment of our body that we may again put it off Death is the Law of Nature and to dye is but to pay a Tribute due to Nature it is as natural for us to live and then to die as it is for us to wake and sleep Oh death Thou wilt certainly come yet it is most uncertain when nothing is more certain than death but than the hour of death there is nothing more uncertain of that day and hour knoweth no man Matt. 24.36 that is of the day of judgement and the hour of death Death comes as a thief in the night both certainly suddenly and violently it takes one upon the house top another in the field one working in the Vineyard another grinding at the Mill one upon the house top of honours another in the field of pleasures one labouring in the Vineyard of a Christian calling another grinding at the Mill of worldly cares and troubles a man knoweth not his time Eccl. 9.12 that is the time of his death God will not discover to us the time when death shall come upon us because he would have us think it to be ever near us he will not let us know our last day because he would have us imagine and expect every day to be our last This one hour the hour of death is hidden from us that all the hours of our life might be the better improved by us saith St. Augustine Oh Death Thou art impartial and indifferent to all thou callest equally and as soon at the gate of the Palace as at the door of the Cottage thou makest the skull of the King and begger alike and between the dust of either thou knowest no difference thou hast neither pity upon the poor nor respect unto the rich thou neither scornest the foolish nor dost thou reverence the wise How dieth the wise man says Solomon even as the fool Eccl. 2.16 Thou dost long threaten the old man and soon betrayest and sruprizest the young thou never sparest any for their Age Sex degree or wealth we can by no power or force resist thee nor by any diligence avoid thee no tears can move thee no money bribe thee no art nor Eloquence can perswade thee Oh Death Thou hast manifold appearances and comest to us in several forms and shapes toward the old man thou approachest pale and lean toward the young bloody and boysterous to the bad man thou appearest as black as Hell it self and terrible to every man Thou comest to us sometimes by the hands of men sometimes by the Teeth of beasts sometimes by Fire and sometimes by water sometimes by a cold blast of wind sometimes by the slipping of a foot and sometimes by the falling of a tyle or stone sometimes in our cloths and sometimes in our meat and drink We dye several ways and by divers means some dye in War and some in peace some by sea and some by land some in the field and some in their beds some by their own neglects and intemperance others by a sudden wound or a languishing disease and thus by a Thousand ways of dying one death or other at last destroys us all Oh Death How bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions Oh Death how acceptable is thy judgement to the needy saith the Wise man Ecclus 41.1 2. Oh death thou art indeed like a shadow thou fliest those that follow thee and followest those that flye from thee thou hastnest toward us when we desire to avoid thee and when we would imbrace thee thou then delayest us Death is the rich mans fear the poor mans desire Thou art often called upon in adversity seldom or never thought on in Prosperity In prosperity we complain and cry with Hezekiah Isai 38. to have further time added to our days but in adversity we are apt every one to wish with Elijah It is enough now O Lord take away my soul for I am no better than my Fathers 1 Kings 19.4 Oh Death How dreadful a thing art thou to flesh and blood how do we abhor to think that the Grave should be our house and that we should make our bed in darkness to say to corruption thou art my father and to the worm thou art my sister and my mother How hateful is it to inherite serpents and worms to be separated from our selves and return to our dust How terrible is death to us not only from our own experience but from the example of others as often as we see or hear that another is dead we are concerned to think that we must dye also and when we are sick and think that death is coming upon our selves how are we troubled not well knowing what we shall do or whither we must go we are afraid to dye even we who have good hope of a better life after
the Cup of Salvation Salvation is in the cup death is now no more since the Lord of life destroyed death his death hath quickened our life and hath sweetned and taken away the sting of death from us Our Apostle does not ask Oh death what is thy sting though the words which follow seem to be an answer to such a question the sting of death is sin it seems then that death is not the sting of sin but sin is the sting of death for says Anselm we do indeed dye for sinning but we do not sin for dying And as those words following answer to a Question which they ask not so the former words ask a question to which those following answer not Oh death where is thy sting Now not to tell you where it is is as much as to say it is no where death hath now no sting let us all rejoyce and be glad this serpent may hiss at us this wasp may buz about us but it can now neither bite not sting us the sting of death is gone and nothing remains but the name nay the name too is gone to them that are in Christ Jesus the death of the godly man is not to be called a death but a sleep a resting from their labours a delivery out of prison a laying down their burden a flying to their desired home death now hath lost her sting it is not now a punishment but a happy passage not so much an end of this life as an entrance into a better not a destruction but a dissolution only a separation of the soul and body for a short time that so they might be joyned together to enjoy heaven and happiness with Christ our Lord and life to all eternity Thus have we asked this one question of death Oh death where is thy sting now let us ask another of our selves why are we so desperately and despairingly afraid of death since we have heard and do certainly know that death hath lost her sting Oh faithless and faint-hearted man why dost thou tremble O Christian to encounter with thy last enemy since its weapon is now taken from it why dost thou shrink at the coldness of the serpent when thou knowest her poyson and sting are quite taken away Oh faithless and faint-hearted soul to be so afraid of a shadow Alas why do we so dreadfully fear death since our souls are not lost but sent before it is for those only to tremble at death that pass from one death to another from the death of the body on earth to the death of the body and soul in hell for ever it is for those only to fear a temporal death so terribly who are either ignorant or do despair of eternal life who go from their Prison in this world to the place of their execution world without end But as for those that are in Christ Jesus they pass from a prison to a Palace from a dungeon to a Throne from a crazy and miserable Tabernacle here to an eternal habitation in the heavens It is for them says Cyprian to fear to be dissolved who have no hope to be with Christ A despairing fear of death is but a despair of eternal life after death Men naturally chuse rather to suffer a great deal of pain and live than to endure a small pain in dying which demonstrates that it is something after death and not death it self which we so much dread Let those only desire to linger in the miseries of this present life who hope thereby to delay a while the torments and miseries of the life to come But as for us Christians we that are in Christ Jesus why are we afraid to arrive at our haven of rest after so many dangers storms and shipwracks which we have suffered in this world having fought a good fight and finished our course why do we doubt or delay to go and receive our Crown of glory having run our race why seem we so unwilling to receive the prize let us not fear the threats of a Temporal death but rather let us rejoyce in the promises of eternal life For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we dye we dye unto the Lord therefore whether we live or dye we are the Lords Let not our lives be so wicked and prophane as that we should be therefore ashamed to live neither let us be so negligent and ignorant of death as to be therefore afraid to dye But at the instant of our departure let us every one say as that dying Saint did which Hierom mentions go forth my soul go forth what dost thou fear Let every soul of us learn to say sincerely and chearfully at his last passage from his earthly Pilgrimage What though I dye I know that my Redeemer liveth though my body be dissolved yet shall my Spirit be conjoyned with Christ my Saviour Lye down then O my body and return unto thy dust mount aloft O my soul and meet thy Saviour in the Air my body shall be earth and worms meat for a short time but my soul I am assured shall be a companion with Saints and Angels for ever and ever Amen Divine Contemplations and Soliloquies upon Death and Eternity I. AS all the creatures O God were made by thy wisdom so they may be useful for our instruction to teach us to dye my garments that wax old may put me in mind that I my self shall wax old like a Garment and that as a Vesture I shall be changed Let me not therefore love the shadow and leave the substance let me not change heaven for earth things temporal for things eternal and since my life is but as a day let me so live by thy Divine assistance this day as if I were certain to dye to morrow and since my life is but as a watch in the night my soul shall wait for thee O Lord before the morning watch I will wait for thee in zealous Affections in unwearied patience in undoubted confidence and expectation of the joy that will come in the morning wherein thou wilt appear for my deliverance out of this transitory life and with my lamp prepared I will be in readiness to meet my Bridegroom at his coming II. Whilest I behold the heavens the works of thy hands O Lord and the Sun and Moon which thou hast ordained which shall all pass away as a tempest I will look for a new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness the heaven of heavens the City of the ever-living God the celestial Jerusalem the place where thy honour dwells therefore while I am on earth let me consider that I am but earth let me always remember that I am but dust an house of clay a body of corruption let me not be earthly-minded like those whose God is their belly whose glory is their shame and whose end is destruction who mind earthly things While I look upon the water-flouds let me say this is mine
this life ended I shall enjoy life eternal and in this confidence I commend my soul unto thee and in the belief thereof I do resolve to live and die VIII No man dreads death as he ought but he that always expects his summons and therefore O my soul thou maist truly judge thy self wofully secure and a wilful contemner of thy future good if thou canst go to thy bed and rest on thy pillow in the apprehension of thy known sins without a particular humiliation for them for how often doth a sudden unexpected death arrest men we see and know in our daily experience that many lay themselves to sleep in health and safety yet are found dead in the morning Thus suddenly are they snatcht from their quiet repose to their irrecoverable judgment perhaps from the bed to the flames Such is the frail condition of our brittle lives that in the small particle of an hour we live and sicken and die yet so gross is our blindness that from one day to another nay from one year to another we triflingly put off the reformation of our lives until our last hour creep on us unlookt for and draggs us to eternity IX How long saith St. Austin O how long shall I delude my soul with to morrow's repentance Why should not this hour terminate my sinfulness We are every minute at the brink of death and every hour that we pass through might prove for ought we know the evening of our whole life and the very close of our mortality Now if it should please God to take away our soul this night as it happens to many what would then become of us In what eternity should we be found whether amongst the damned or the blessed Happy were it for us if we were but as careful for the welfare of our souls as we are curious for the adorning our bodies if our cloaths or faces do contract any blot or soiling we presently endeavour to cleanse the same but though our souls lye inthralled in the pollutions of sin this alas we feel not it neither provokes us to shame nor moves us to sorrow Therefore let us look into our hearts with a more severe eye let the shortness of our days stir us up to the amendment of our sinful lives and let the hour wherein we have sinned be the beginning of our reformation Our repentance must not only be sincere but timely also whilst we have the light let us walk as children of the light let us no longer cheat our souls in studying to invent evasions or pretences for our sins but let us rather lay open our sores and seek to the true Physician that can heal them X. All the creatures under the Sun do naturally design their own preservation and desire that happiness which is agreeable to their nature only man is negligent and impiously careless of his own welfare We see the Hart when he is stricken and wounded looks speedily for a certain herb well known to him by a kind of natural instinct and when he hath found it applies it to the wound The swallow when her young ones are blind knows how to procure them their sight by the use of her Celandine but we alas are wounded yet seek for no Remedy we go customarily to our Beds to our Tables to our good Company but who is he that observes his constant course of prayer of repentance of hearty and sincere humiliation for his sins We go forward still in our old way and jogg on in the same Rode though our judgment hasten Hell threaten Death stand at the door yet we run forward still But alas miserable souls that we are how can we imbrace quiet rest and uninterrupted sleeps with such wounded Consciences how can we be so secure being so near our time XI The whole world promised for a reward cannot perswade us to endure one momentany Torment in Fire and yet in the accustomed course of our lives we dread not we quake not at everlasting burnings But O thou delicious and dainty soul who cherishest thy self in the joy of thine heart and the delight of thine eyes whose belly is thy God and the world thy Paradise Oh bethink thy self betimes before that gloomy day that day of clouds and thick darkness that day of desolation and confusion approach when all the inhabitants of the Earth shall mourn and lament and all faces as the Prophet Joel speaks shall gather blackness because the time of their judgment is come Alas with what a doleful heart and weeping eyes and drooping countenance and trembling loyns wilt thou at that last and great Assize look upon Christ Jesus when he shall most gloriously appear with innumerable Angels in flaming fire to render vengeance on them that know him not What a cold damp will seize upon thy soul when thou shalt behold him whom thou hast all thy life long neglected in his ordinances despised in his members rejected in his love when thou shalt see the judgment-seat the books opened thy sins discovered yea all the secret counsels of thy heart after a wonderful manner manifested and laid open to the eye of the whole world what horrour and perplexity of spirit will possess thee to view and behold but the very solemnities and circumstances which accompany this judgment when thou shalt see the heavens burn the Elements melt the earth tremble the sea roar the Sun turn into darkness and the Moon into blood and now what shall be thy refuge where shall be thy succour Shalt thou reign because thou clothest thy self in Cedar Shalt thou be safe because with the Eagle thou hast set thy nest on high Oh no it is not now the greatness of thy State nor the abundance of thy wealth nor the priviledge of thy place nor the eminency of thy wrath or wit or learning that can avail thee ought either to avoid thy doom or prorogue thy Judgment XII All states and conditions of men are alike when they appear at the bar of Christ there the Prince must lay down his Crown and the Peer his Robes and the Judge his purple and the Captain his Banner All must promiscuously attend to give in their accounts and to receive according to what they have done whether it be good or whether it be evil Here on the earth men that are great and glorious in the eye of the world as long as they can hold their habitations have both countenance to defend and power to protect them from the injuries of the times but when the dismal face of that terrible day shall shew it self then shall they find no eye to pity nor arm to help nor palace to defend nor Rocks to shelter nor mountains to cover them from the presence of him that sits upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Shew me the most insolent spirit the most undaunted soul that now breaths under the Cope of heaven who now fears not any created Being no not God himself